How often should you feed phytoplankton for Feather dusters and Coco worms?

[Tyrone]

I’ve noticed after about 3 weeks I haven’t seen my feather duster or coco worms. I’ve been told that I should dose phytoplankton daily and to add cope pods once a month. That being said I have a nano reef tank WB 20 cube. How much phytoplankton daily should I dose without elevating nutrients too excessive amounts.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

I am not too sure. I have a full grown feather duster worm and 2 tiny ones. IME, i dont dose phyto in my tank(20g). I only dose 125ml phyto once every 3 months at most. I heard coco worms are hard to keep.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO there's no need to add pods once a month, that is a sales pitch lol.
i used to add phyto to my tank 3 times a week when i had featherdusters. You can also use a turkey baster to blast your rocks, they eat detritus too. A much better idea than buying phyto monthly is to culture your own, its super easy and basically free. Same with pods, culture your own - its basically free, compared to spending $25 for a tiny bottle of pods or phyto. Check for "how to" videos on youtube if your interested.

 

[tednaso]

I have a large feather duster. I have not dosed anything or ever feed it but it’s been doing fine. It came as a hitchhiker.

 

[DaJMasta]

Feather dusters can survive fine on normal feedings and ambient debris in some cases, but feeding is definitely preferred. Coco worms need more food and I would think daily feeding (or near it) is important but phyto probably isn't the food of choice - maybe a powdered food, copepod, or Artemis nauplii.

In any case, either is explicitly a filter feeder, so count on needing regular feedings of particulate foods, and personally I would avoid using fine mesh mechanical filtration (filter socks and fleece rollers), though in some setups this can be ok. Don't count on phyto being directly uptaked by them (the particle size is probably too fine), but it will help grow the things they can eat. Good flow and fish load will help keep some of that particulate suspended and passing by them.

 

[X-37B]

I have feather dusters in my 55 and 15. If you feed your fish enough the whole system including feather dusters get fed.
My 15 has 3.

 

[brittlestar]

Maybe the coco worms are different, but I really doubt that a feather duster would eat BBS or copepods. They have a complex structure to their gills that can only hold nearly microscopic particles. I've actually watched mine reject particles barely big enough to see if I really focus. I feed it nothing but phyto feast, once a day. It quickly became more active and alert after I bought it and it's been building its tube steadily over the last few months.